I made good use of my hat and sunblock today with a visit to the KL Bird Park. Billing itself as the world's largest free-flight walk-in aviary, it features a paved trail that winds through 21 acres of semi-natural jungle habitat dotted with funky concrete streams and waterfalls. In all, the park is home to over 3000 birds--some caged and some that fly free under a huge net that covers the whole place--from Southeast Asia and other tropical regions in South America, Africa and the Middle East. Some bird families represented included flamingos, hornbills, parrots, peacocks and too many more to even think about, let alone list.

At one point when a big ol' ostrich stared me down, it reminded me a little bit of a large, flightless, carnivorous bird called Phororhacos, and I was hoping for a sighting, until I found out it's been extinct for around 10 million years. Oh well, my bad. After I walked back to Chinatown, I ate at my favorite food cart, watched a really good movie about Johnny Cash called Walk the Line, then had one last hurrah at the cart again later at night and said my goodbyes to the fine feathered folks who run it. Come this time tomorrow night, I'll be in Thailand.